Cooking up collaboration: Hawaiʻi Island Chef Challenge marks 5 delicious years

The kitchens at Hawaiʻi Community College were sizzling with excitement as 12 culinary students teamed up with professional chefs for the 5th annual Hawaiʻi Island Chef Challenge on Oct. 24.

The fast-paced, mystery-basket competition brought together the island’s food community to celebrate local ingredients, mentorship and creative collaboration.

Six professional chefs volunteered their time to serve as mentors this year:

• Zane Monteleone from Hana Hou Restaurant.
• Simon Farrington from Hilo Yacht Club.
• George Gomes Jr. from King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort.
• Phillip “Ippy” Aiona from The Koa Table.
• Matthew Galindo from Hilo Products Inc.
• Casey Halpern from Café Pesto.

Each chef-student team created a three-course meal — appetizer, entrée and dessert — using locally sourced ingredients revealed just before the clock started.

“Cooking competitions are always difficult because people take them so seriously, and food is so subjective,” said Aiona in a release announcing the winners and challenge success. “My goal today was to let the students have as much a hand in it as I did. They hustled, they put their heads down, and it’s their win for sure.”

Aiona won this year’s challenge with Hawai‘i Community College students Amelia Klunk and Arithat Ruangchai.

Judging the challenge were Chef Sam Choy, the James Beard Award-winning “Godfather of Poke,” and Chef Willie “Kanila” Garcia, a Hilo native now sous chef at The Summit Club in Las Vegas.

“These kinds of events really allow the students to spread their wings,” said Choy in the release. “I think the real magic and the real point of this kind of competition is allowing the students to become great culinarians.”

The event was founded 5 years ago by Hawaiʻi Community College graduate Pomaikaʻi Bartolome, in partnership with Hilo Products Inc. and Hawaiʻi Community College chef instructors Shawn Sumiki and Tori Hiro.

Bartolome is now director of food and workplace safety at Hilo Products Inc. and also serves as the chef challenge coordinator and producer.

“By pairing rising chefs with experienced mentors, we create opportunities for growth and connection while celebrating our farmers and food producers,” said Bartolome in the release.